Monday, July 16, 2007
Jaw Breaker Series - Day 1, 11 July
And so it finally arrives. The Op day. And I do mean THE OP DAY. The one day that has been delayed for almost a year due to various reasons (change of surgeon, refusal of one of my teeth to move and of course, work). I already fixed my op day a month in advance. But along the way, there have been various obstacles that could've prevented me from doing it. But strangely, my Regional and Deputy Director both gave their blessings despite the corporate turmoil in the office. To which i readily accepted (after all, it has been delayed for 1 year!). in fact, my deputy director even said that there is no better time to do it than now.
I checked into the hospital at 11.30am for my surgery. The surgery was at 12.30pm but they needed sometime to settle me in, do a final checkup, bag up my belongings etc. I was told to report to the Day ward, Ward 1. Once there, they lead me to my temporary bed. I only brought a haversack with me and it contained only a change of clothes, toiletries, books and mags and my phone charger. That was it. The nurse did a blood pressure and temperature check on me, made sure that all my documents were signed, bagged my belongings before ushering me to get changed. I was handed one of those green operating gowns (yeah the kind with ur butt somewhat exposed) and thankfully a pink kimono to wrap up my modesty. With that, she marched me up to the operating room together with another patient (other patient was here for wisdom tooth extraction).
Reality still hadn't struck me by then, about the magnitude of the whole thing. Once again, they asked me questions on what kind of op I has going to have, my name, IC blah blah. As if to make sure that I knew what I was bargaining for. And as they led me to the operating theatre, reality just had to strike right there. I'm not sure if it's becos the operating theatre was cold or I was getting cold feet. As I got onto the table (yeah, like some meat), I just hoped that everything went well. The surgeon hadn't arrived, but they started prepping me up for the op. They started poking me in my wrist to insert the plug for the IV drip. That hurt. "Oh you have such small veins".. find a bigger one.. I wanted to say. Then, another lady stepped in (she seemed to have more authority) and she started reprimanding people for doing things wrongly! OH MY GOD. I really wanted to just escape from the table... That was when 2nd thoughts started setting in. Unfortunately that was when the gas mask came over my face as well. They asked me to breathe and soon I was zonked out.
Details about the rest of the ordeal were fuzzy. I do remember being held in a temporary ward. And I do remember, despite my zonked out state they kept asking me how much pain i felt. I mumbled something like 5 (I dunno how i actually remembered the pain scale, 1 being no pain, 10 being unbearable) and then dozed off again. I remember being shifted from the temporary place to my ward. And then i just continued to fleet in and out of my comatose state. By the time I came to, it was about 8.30pm. But even then, I wasn't in full mental capacity. I remember kicking off the blankets becos it was warm. The nurses came to change me in pyjamas. And surprisingly I wasn't hungry despite having had nothing to eat for the past 48 hours. But by then they had hooked me up to the IV drip. And nurses came and went, injecting me with stuff in my plug. That hurt. Especially when the liquid went in and expanded in my so called itsy bitsy veins... OUCH. Another nurse also came by measuring my blood pressure and temperature. She also wanted to collect a urine sample from me. But for all of heaven's will, there was no pee in me. How can u get pee from someone who hasn't had water in 48 hours??? I just mumbled something and she left. She must've thought I was one obnoxious prick.
But the fun started only after midnight. I woke up and started puking blood. I was horrified. I thought I was gonna die. I called for the nurse. One came, obviously from China. She just took a look at me, left, returned with a plastic pan and asked me to hold it to my mouth and left. I was like... huh? I'm vomiting blood here... Heeeelllloooo?? And the idiot didn't even bother to change the blanket nor leave any tissues for me to wipe my mouth. I had to call for another nurse. Just when i thought that ordeal was over, a new one started. There was some blood and phlegm stuck in my mouth and there was no way I was going to get rid of it with my mouth clamped up with a plastic splint in between. I nearly choked while sleeping. I called for another nurse. This time, an indian nurse came and she was nicer. She really did all she can to make me more comfortable:warm water to help swallow the phlegm; she even helped me suck out whatever residue there was in my mouth. But despite her efforts, the phlegm remained lodged there. I had no choice but to sleep inclined at 45 degrees on the bed to avoid choking. SHIT... great start
I checked into the hospital at 11.30am for my surgery. The surgery was at 12.30pm but they needed sometime to settle me in, do a final checkup, bag up my belongings etc. I was told to report to the Day ward, Ward 1. Once there, they lead me to my temporary bed. I only brought a haversack with me and it contained only a change of clothes, toiletries, books and mags and my phone charger. That was it. The nurse did a blood pressure and temperature check on me, made sure that all my documents were signed, bagged my belongings before ushering me to get changed. I was handed one of those green operating gowns (yeah the kind with ur butt somewhat exposed) and thankfully a pink kimono to wrap up my modesty. With that, she marched me up to the operating room together with another patient (other patient was here for wisdom tooth extraction).
Reality still hadn't struck me by then, about the magnitude of the whole thing. Once again, they asked me questions on what kind of op I has going to have, my name, IC blah blah. As if to make sure that I knew what I was bargaining for. And as they led me to the operating theatre, reality just had to strike right there. I'm not sure if it's becos the operating theatre was cold or I was getting cold feet. As I got onto the table (yeah, like some meat), I just hoped that everything went well. The surgeon hadn't arrived, but they started prepping me up for the op. They started poking me in my wrist to insert the plug for the IV drip. That hurt. "Oh you have such small veins".. find a bigger one.. I wanted to say. Then, another lady stepped in (she seemed to have more authority) and she started reprimanding people for doing things wrongly! OH MY GOD. I really wanted to just escape from the table... That was when 2nd thoughts started setting in. Unfortunately that was when the gas mask came over my face as well. They asked me to breathe and soon I was zonked out.
Details about the rest of the ordeal were fuzzy. I do remember being held in a temporary ward. And I do remember, despite my zonked out state they kept asking me how much pain i felt. I mumbled something like 5 (I dunno how i actually remembered the pain scale, 1 being no pain, 10 being unbearable) and then dozed off again. I remember being shifted from the temporary place to my ward. And then i just continued to fleet in and out of my comatose state. By the time I came to, it was about 8.30pm. But even then, I wasn't in full mental capacity. I remember kicking off the blankets becos it was warm. The nurses came to change me in pyjamas. And surprisingly I wasn't hungry despite having had nothing to eat for the past 48 hours. But by then they had hooked me up to the IV drip. And nurses came and went, injecting me with stuff in my plug. That hurt. Especially when the liquid went in and expanded in my so called itsy bitsy veins... OUCH. Another nurse also came by measuring my blood pressure and temperature. She also wanted to collect a urine sample from me. But for all of heaven's will, there was no pee in me. How can u get pee from someone who hasn't had water in 48 hours??? I just mumbled something and she left. She must've thought I was one obnoxious prick.
But the fun started only after midnight. I woke up and started puking blood. I was horrified. I thought I was gonna die. I called for the nurse. One came, obviously from China. She just took a look at me, left, returned with a plastic pan and asked me to hold it to my mouth and left. I was like... huh? I'm vomiting blood here... Heeeelllloooo?? And the idiot didn't even bother to change the blanket nor leave any tissues for me to wipe my mouth. I had to call for another nurse. Just when i thought that ordeal was over, a new one started. There was some blood and phlegm stuck in my mouth and there was no way I was going to get rid of it with my mouth clamped up with a plastic splint in between. I nearly choked while sleeping. I called for another nurse. This time, an indian nurse came and she was nicer. She really did all she can to make me more comfortable:warm water to help swallow the phlegm; she even helped me suck out whatever residue there was in my mouth. But despite her efforts, the phlegm remained lodged there. I had no choice but to sleep inclined at 45 degrees on the bed to avoid choking. SHIT... great start
# posted by Xallista @ 6:27 PM 
